I am a Friend of God
John 15:9-16
9-10“I’ve loved you the way my Father has loved me. Make yourselves at home in my love. If you keep my commands, you’ll remain intimately at home in my love. That’s what I’ve done—kept my Father’s commands and made myself at home in his love.
11-15“I’ve told you these things for a purpose: that my joy might be your joy, and your joy wholly mature. This is my command: Love one another the way I loved you. This is the very best way to love. Put your life on the line for your friends. You are my friends when you do the things I command you. I’m no longer calling you servants because servants don’t understand what their master is thinking and planning. No, I’ve named you friends because I’ve let you in on everything I’ve heard from the Father.
16“You didn’t choose me, remember; I chose you, and put you in the world to bear fruit, fruit that won’t spoil. As fruit bearers, whatever you ask the Father in relation to me, he gives you.
There were lots of rules listed in the Old Testament and Jesus also spent time teaching how to obey God. Why would Jesus condense all of this down to one commandment: ‘Love one another’?
“I’m no longer calling you servants because servants don’t understand what their master is thinking and planning. No, I’ve named you friends because I’ve let you in on everything I’ve heard from the Father.” John 15:15
What is a ‘friend’?
What does it mean to be a friend of Jesus?
Philoi
It’s not a master-slave relationship (as was the case in many ancient religions of
the day….humans were considered slaves to their ‘god’).
It’s not a relationship of equals…..God is still God…..but desiring a relationship
with us that is much deeper than a distant, hierarchical, unbalanced loved.
It is a love that wants to serve God as well as others.
“Do you renounce the spiritual forces of wickedness, reject the evil powers of this world and repent of your sin?
“Do you accept the freedom and power God gives you to resist evil, injustice, and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves?
“Do you confess Jesus Christ as your Savior, put your whole trust in his grace, and promise to serve him as your Lord in union with the church which Christ has opened to people of all ages, nations, and races?
“According to the grace given to you, will you remain faithful members of Christ’s holy church and serve as Christ’s representatives in the world?”
(The United Methodist Hymnal, 1989)
TODAY'S PREACHER
Debbie Reese is Co-Directing Pastor of Calvary UMC